Palmer Town Council Approves $2.28 Million Sewer Bond, Reelects Berry as President

PALMER -- July 14, 2025, Palmer Town Council approves $2.28 million wastewater bond and reelects Barbara Berry as president. The council voted unanimously July 14 to authorize loan order 2025-03, a $2,280,000 bond for sludge dewatering improvements at the wastewater treatment plant, while rescinding a prior February 2025 authorization for the same project. Town Manager Brad Klepacki said the centrifuge-based replacement equipment would reduce sludge disposal costs and integrate into the plant's existing preventative maintenance plan. The council also seated six new at-large members, Josephine Fitzgerald, Candace Switlowski, Michael Graham, Robert Havilas, Russell Raymond, and Donald Frederick, on the charter-mandated ordinance committee, bringing total resident membership to nine. An attorney for Thorndike, the Thorndike mill property owner, told the council that a mechanics lien filed by contractor Biggs Waterman has blocked all redevelopment for two and a half years and that some 14 depositions have been completed in the ongoing litigation, with the property's active hydroelectric facility remaining operational and power sold into the grid.